CMS

Tim and I are at our second day of InfoCamp. Bob Boiko, teacher, consultant, business person, developer and information leader, is doing the opening session today. He’s pushing the crowd to really think about what tools we have in our toolboxes as information professionals. We have to think practically and concretely so we can understand our roles which will help us understand our value to an organization and can work successfully in an organization. He’s doing a great job of helping people to think about what they mean when they say, “I can help you find the information you need.” How is that helpful to your client? What concrete tools and skills are you bringing to your client?Since we’re in the Information Age, it only makes sense that information professionals lead the information age. There’s a lot of untapped value in information professionals as leaders.

I commented on Plone in my “Open Source Social Software” post last week. I still think it’s a great CMS and a great way to go if you can put in the time to get it set up right. What a lot of people don’t know is that a Plone isn’t limited to a plain vanilla interface (like you see by default at Plone.org and with a default install.). I think the default is OK looking, but if people knew what it _could_ be, they might be a little more motivated to embrace a fresh design from the start.

Thankfully, the folks behind Plone have gathered the work of talented designers, coders, and the like, at a nice gallery on Plone.net The collection site itself is a is a step beyond the out-of-the box Plone look. Check it out. Maybe you’ll get some ideas to add a little zing to your vanilla.